OL Reign Legend: Lauren Sato – CEO Of Ada Developers Academy

The Legends Campaign, a partnership between OL Reign and Starbucks, honors women for their extraordinary contributions to our community in the Pacific Northwest and beyond. Prior to the April 14 match against San Diego Wave FC, OL Reign recognized Lauren Sato, CEO of ADA Developers Academy, a nonprofit, tuition-free coding school for women and gender diverse adults.

Sato is a mentor and role model to many. She has a lifelong passion for education, which is something that has driven her career path so far, paired with her commitment to providing expanded opportunity to women in all parts of life.

“Pretty early on in my career I got really inspired by what’s possible when you get money into the hands of women and how many people benefit from that. I never worked as a teacher even though that was the degree I earned. I got plugged into the international nonprofit scene after college. I started working with communities in Uganda and Zimbabwe. I worked with groups of women to earn income and take care of their communities.”

Sato has been with Ada since 2020, when she stepped into the CEO role with the intention to grow Ada.

“I spent quite a while in growth stage startups before ending up at Ada in January 2020. They were a program that was small but working really well in Seattle. They were ready to start growing from there, so they brought me on to take the Ada concept that they had built and expand it across the country. So that’s what we have been doing since then! We raised some growth funding from Melinda Gates and Mackenzie Scott. We opened in Atlanta this year and we are opening in D.C. next year, then we will open in three more cities the next three years after that.”

For Sato, it’s important to find opportunities for women and gender diverse people to be included at the tables where decisions are being made.

“It's been a really exciting time to see tech growing so much and to be able to make sure that women are part of that, getting those great salaries and also influencing the products that are being built. There’s just so much opportunity for more impactful products to be built when we have more diversity at those tables.”

Though her background is in education, it is important to Sato that the tech industry includes more diversity at all levels, noting that there are not really companies that don’t use tech anymore.

“Tech is everywhere, right? There are not really tech companies and not tech companies, especially as we are emerging from the pandemic. Everyone has had to go digital. It feels like not only the wealth engine of our time, but the cultural engine of our time. It feels really important to have the fullness of humanity at the table making those decisions.”

When asked about the advice she would give to young women pursuing a career in a field they are underrepresented in, Sato reinforced the idea of finding a supportive community with similar goals.

“I think the most impactful thing is to find your community, even when that community is really small in some of these spaces. You can find your people. That’s always been really impact for me and for our Ada students as they go into tech companies where there are very few women. To find the small community where she can stick together and raise their voices together has been really impact.”

For Sato, being honored as an OL Reign Legend is extra special because she has a background in soccer.

“I played soccer in college. For my birthday some number of years ago, I made myself train and tried out with the Reign in their first open tryout. I’ve been a huge Reign fan since they launched and I am super excited to have them back in Seattle.”

Her soccer background has also allowed her to draw connections between women in soccer and women in the tech industry and the obstacles that each group faces on a regular basis.

“There are so many parallels between women in soccer and women in tech. These are spaces that have been dominated by men and where you can be the best in the freaking world and still not get paid. I see our paths as very parallel and there are a lot of opportunities for us to support each other. We can raise our voices and together and learn how to advocate for getting paid. It’s all things we have to fight for now so the women who come after us don’t have to fight for it, so I’m really excited to be honored as an OL Reign Legend.”

She continued, “Something that is important to note about what we are doing at Ada is that we are building a movement, and I see that in soccer as well. There’s this movement happening where women have been fighting in their individual spaces to prove their worth and be heard and now it seems like that pivotal point where our voices are coming together. I hope that as we continue to increase the wealth that women and gender diverse communities hold in this country, that that leads to a shift of who holds wealth and power in this country. I see Ada and OL Reign’s goals as very aligned in that way.”

OL Reign fans are encouraged to learn more about Ada and get involved to help promote Ada’s mission. Sato noted that there are several ways that fans can get involved.

“At Ada, we have a lot of opportunities to volunteer. If folks are in tech, we are always looking for mentors and tutors for our students. If you are hiring software developers, that’s what we are doing, so it would be great if people were interested in hiring our alums. We have admissions cycles that open every six months, so we would love to see fans in our classes in they are looking to change careers!”

Learn more about Ada by visiting their website here.